Japan and the Japanese

CUSTOM OF LEGAL SUICIDE. 69
domestic products, a vast number of vessels, of rather feeble struc-
ture, being employed in navigating the coasts of the islands, which
abounded with deep bays and excellent harbors.
Of the sciences, whether mathematical, mixed, or purely physical,
they knew but little. They had, however, a considerable number
of books treating of religion, medicine, and their history and tra-
ditions. The young were instructed in eloquence, poetry, and a rude
sort of painting and music, and they had a great fondness for theat-
rical representations, in which they decidedly excelled. Their
writing, in which they greatly studied brevity, was in columns, as
with the Chinese, from the top to the bottom of the page, for which
they gave this reason : that writing ought to be a true representation
of men's thoughts, and that men naturally stood erect. These
columns read from right to left. They employed, besides the Chinese
idiographic signs, a syllabic alphabet of their own, though in many
works the Chinese characters were freely introduced.*
Jurisprudence, as in most eastern countries, was a very simple
affair. The laws were very few. Heads of families exercised great
power over their households. Most private disputes were settled by
arbitration ; but where this failed, and in all criminal cases, a
decision was made on the spot by a magistrate, from whom there
was seldom any appeal.. The sentences were generally executed at
once, and often with very great severity. Whether from their temperament,
or their belief in the doctrines of transmigration and
annihilation, it was observed that the Japanese met death with more
courage than was common in Europe. It was, indeed, a point of
honor, in many cases, to inflict it on themselves, which they did in
a horrid manner, by cutting open their bowels by two gashes in the
shape of a cross. The criminal who thus anticipated execution
secured thereby the public sympathy and applause, saving his
property from confiscation, and his family from death ; and, upon the
death of superiors or masters, the same fate was often, as a mark
of personal devotion and attachment, self-inflicted ;
and sometimes,
also, in consequence of a disgrace or affront, to escape or revenge
which no other means appeared.! The missionaries especially noted
* For an account of the Japanese language, method of writing, literature,
&c., see Note A, Appendix.
t " All military men, the servants of the Djogoun, and persons holding